Only so much
by holycitygirl
Summary: CaseyZeke -- DO NOT read if you don't like Boy-Boy relationships. Set several years after the movie. Part 2 of hopefully 15. Zeke has a theory and Casey has a secret. CHAPTER 2: Flashback 1
1. Default Chapter

**Title:** Only so much  
**Part:** 1/?  
**Disclaimer:** If you own crap it owns you. So yeah I wish I did. But I don't. Zasey is someone else's invention. I didn't even make up the term.  
**Warning:** Fluff with a angsty peanut center. The next chapter will be less fluffy. (yes yes I'm going to try)  
**Summary:** The first part in a series that is running through my head. Takes place a couple of years after the events in the movie. The next part will probably be a flashback chapter. So any questions raised will be answered then.  
**A/N:** Hope you like and come back for the sequel.

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"There is only so much love in the world" Zeke began. It was a lazy Sunday evening and the boy had obviously decided to share a new theory. Like most of his beliefs, it was to be simple and kind of jaded, like Zeke himself.

Casey didn't try to stop the fond smile from forming. He did find this statement particularly complexing due to the fact that they were both naked, sated from a whole day spent in bed. "Did we use all of it?"

The big toe of Casey's left foot received a sharp pull. The owner of said foot's head rested properly on Pottery Barn pillow cases. Zeke had abandoned tradition somewhere around two-thirty and was now backwards on the bed. His feet thumped annoyingly on the headboard. He began to give a stern look and disagree but changed his mind and smirked. "Maybe"

The boys then settled back into silence until Casey's curiosity returned. "So – what were you saying?"

Zeke frowned and returned his body so he was facing Casey eyeball to eyeball. "I was saying something?"

The younger boy rolled his eyes and leisurely began to stroke Zeke's arm. "Yes you were about to go all Buddha on the mountain. Teach me something about the world."

"Oh yeah..." Zeke rolled unto his back pulling Casey's hand with him. He stretched until the fingers settled on thinly defined abdominal muscles. "Life – the Universe – all that vague cosmic shit – it must maintain balance."

Casey removed his hand to scratch his head. "So there has to be an equal amount of love and hate?"

"No, not necessarily."

"Huh?"

Zeke chuckled and once again the constant energy churning within him forced him to change positions. He swung naked legs off the bed and got up. Crossing towards the bathroom he continued. "Well it goes back to my original conclusion – there being only a certain amount of any given resource. Like oil, iron ore – love is no different." The sound of water briefly drowned out the deep timber of Zeke's filibuster.

Thoughts of Mary Beth and her dried up planet flickered through Casey's mind, briefly and unclearly like strobe lights behind closed eyes.

Zeke wandered back in the room with a glass of water. "Earth to Casey."

Casey sat up in bed and reached for his wallet on the night stand. "Can I have some?"

Zeke handed him the glass. He watched as Casey pulled a 3 by 1 strip of wax paper from behind his Driver's license. "That shit is going to kill you."

It was a familiar warning. "Says the ex-drug dealer." He let the white powder slide unto his tongue. The bitter taste of the headache medicine made him salivate.

Zeke faked a laugh. "It's like acid, it will eat a hole in your stomach lining."

Casey swallowed the remaining water. He knew he was only imagining it, but his headache already seemed to dull. "Yeah, I think that is what my grandmother died of."

Zeke glared.

"Finish the theory and forget about my socially acceptable addiction."

Zeke sat on the bed with his back turned and refused to respond.

"Shouldn't their only be a certain amount of worry in the world as well?"

Turning sharply, "I don't think my concern for your health is funny." Zeke took the empty paper from the table and threw it across the room. "Or uncalled for."

The mattress creaked as Casey maneuvered around Zeke's tension filled form. He let his left leg stretch out and scooted until he was sitting behind him. Casey pressed in until he couldn't anymore, and rested his chin on the solid weight of his lover's shoulder. "I had every test ever invented run on me after "the incident." No tumors, no abnormalities, not even a rogue misfiring synapse."

Zeke sighed, took a deep breath and relaxed visibly. Casey knew the gesture spoke more of letting go than giving up. He could feel Zeke's steady heartbeat against his chest.

"So when one great love ends, another one starts to take its place." Zeke shifted pulling Casey's arms around him. "Because unlike iron ore or oil, love can not be used up or diminished."

"Gimme a for instance."

Zeke pushed back and Casey fell to the covers below. He turned and rested each hand on either side of Casey's small form. He let his legs straddle just below the waist. "Like our hook up."

Smiling up from his new position, Casey raised and eyebrow. "How so?"

"Well, when did we get together?"

Casey thought back. It had been two years ago at Delilah's graduation party. It was a night to celebrate the end of high school and the end of childhood. For Casey and Zeke it had been the end of small town living and all the small minds that went along with it. "But D and I had been over for months before then."

Zeke snorted above him. "That was hardly love."

Casey patiently waited, tracing patterns on Zeke's thigh.

"Are you forgetting the knock down drag out of Stokely vs. Stan?"

They had all had too much keg that night. The Odd Squad (_as D liked to call the strange band of friends they formed after the invasion_) had been gathered in the den. D had been all nervous energy, talking non-stop to hide any fears of the future. Zeke for once seemed mellow sitting quietly in D's dad's giant leather chair. Casey had been sitting in the floor beside it with his head leaning against Zeke's resting arm. Stan and Stokes were sitting on opposite ends of the couch. He hadn't thought it strange at the time, but then he had been pretty busy worrying about why he was so worried about how much he was going to miss Zeke. He remembered the moment with crystal clear clarity. It was the last time they were all in the same room.

Zeke interrupted the memory with a nibble to Casey's neck. "You ever wonder if we ever would have admitted it – if Stan hadn't called us out."

"Well that is hardly an example of our love rising to fill the void." He ran his fingers through Zeke's tousled locks. "Our feelings were there already – simultaneously with Stokes and Stan. I think I always had them. Even when you were giving me –"You're so pathetic looks in the hallway."

Laughing Zeke trailed more kisses downward. "Well you were pathetic". He stopped sitting up and letting his weight settle slightly on Casey's thighs but mostly on his own knees. "But the point is – even though we had the feelings – even though we have Stan to thank for forcing us to discuss them- the manifestation of that love could not be realized until there's went kaput."

"So if they hadn't broken up – we would have died alone? That's a happy thought."

Zeke shook his head. "No, it didn't have to be Stan and Stokes. It just was."

Casey rose up, his elbows propped him and all he had to do was lick his lips and Zeke was kissing him. Seconds later they needed to breathe. "You know sometimes I think you stay awake at night, just to perfect these ludicrous theories."

Zeke nodded, lack of oxygen to the brain making him uncharacteristically silly. "Sometimes I do. Just to make your forehead wrinkle."

"And sometimes..." Casey placed a kiss just below Zeke's jaw. "I think you do it just to get in my pants."

Zeke's smile was both sinister and sincere "Well there's only so much love in the world."


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Only So much

Chapter: Part 2/?

Disclaimer: still refuses to sell them to me. So yeah – Casey and Zeke aren't mine.

Summary: The second installment – a flashback chapter. Happens before the events of a href Part 1. The flip flopping between past and present will continue in the next chapter until a plot is revealed.

A/N: I promise.

A/N 2: Tell me if you like.

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"Everyone is going Casey!" Delilah explained, using her most haughty _do what I say because I said it_ voice.  
  
It worked every time. Casey opened his mouth to refuse only to be surprised when "I guess I can come for a little while" came out instead.  
  
Delilah smiled, reaching over to pat his head. "That's a good boy." She pulled several books from her locker and slammed it shut. "And you will come early and stay late. God Casey - no one cameos a party of mine."  
  
Casey sighed. He wondered dejectedly how someone could defeat higher life forms and not be able to tell his ex-girlfriend no. Outwardly he nodded his head and accepted the kiss on the cheek Delilah bestowed before running off to find more people to peer pressure.  
  
The 8th period bell rang signaling the end to another day. The halls began to fill. Casey leaned against the wall and felt himself fall into a familiar brood. He alternated between staring at his shoes and scanning the crowd for a familiar brunette.  
  
Zeke's last class of the day was Mrs. Cohen's Calculus. Senior lockers were on the adjacent hallway. When Zeke rounded the corner, their eyes locked. After a few seconds Casey let his eyes slide back to the floor.  
  
Zeke stopped in front of Casey and followed his line of sight. "What are we looking at?"  
  
Casey had been like this for weeks. Like Zeke, everyone had been confused as to why, himself included. He couldn't figure out why the prospect of Graduation didn't excite him. He wanted out of this town more than anything. "Nothing. I was just zoning."  
  
Zeke shrugged. "You know I was just doing the same thing in Calculus."  
  
"That's why it took you so long to graduate."  
  
Zeke laughed, motioning for Casey to follow him to his locker. He slid his Cal book beside a stack of cds, some pens, and a collection of poems by Pablo Neruda. "I skipped Calculus last year."  
  
"The entire year?"  
  
"It was before lunch, primo time to leave campus and do some business over at St. Francis."  
  
It was so Zeke, Casey had to smile. "Selling sin to the saints".  
  
Zeke smirked. He quietly finished, giving the lock a spin and going through two thirds of the combination.  
  
Casey loved how Zeke was always coming up with shortcuts and ways to make life easier. Everyone else he knew tried to make things harder.  
  
"So...the Rents taking you out for steak and potatoes after Graduation?"  
  
Casey thought Zeke knew the answer to that. Anyone who had been to the Conner house hold could observe the tension. His parents lost what little understanding they had of him after the invasion. And he in turn had grown out of his childlike need to make them proud. They never would and he never could, so as a result they didn't talk much. They would be attending the ceremony though, which was more than he could say for Zeke. "I still can't believe you aren't going to walk."  
  
The boys began to make there way toward the exit.  
  
Zeke pulled out his keys, pushed open the double doors that led to freedom, and pointed Casey to the left of the parking lot. "Well you should try harder. The decision is not out of character."  
  
Casey opened his mouth to say something sarcastic but instead came up with a mousy "I wish you would."  
  
They reached the car (even more badass than the one the aliens killed) and at Casey's confession Zeke paused. He looked as if he wanted to say something but then didn't. Pulling the messenger bag from around Casey's neck, he pushed him toward the passenger side.  
  
Casey let the moment pass.  
  
"So what are you doing afterwards?" Zeke asked once they were both seated inside.  
  
Casey noticed early on in their friendship that Zeke never just came out and said what he wanted. He usually asked several questions first, in order to feel out the situation and see if it could be manipulated. Casey cringed knowing Zeke wouldn't like the answer he had to give. "Well you see... I kinda..."  
  
"You are NOT going to the Ice Queen's party? Seriously. Case tell me I'm wrong. Tell me you aren't that pathetic. Are you?"  
  
"I am." Casey offered bleakly.  
  
Zeke started the engine, cranked up the volume on the radio, and to his disappointment made a right instead of left at the parking lot exit. Zeke was taking him home. "No you are not. That is what truly saddens --- you have a pair. You just refuse to use them."  
  
Casey blushed in both embarrassment and anger (and maybe if he were being honest a third emotion that he couldn't define). He looked out the window, counting white houses to keep from thinking at all.  
  
Zeke let him.  
  
In five minutes they were parked behind Casey's dad's Mini Van. He reached for the door muttering an unnecessary "Thanks."  
  
He was half way up the driveway before Zeke jumped out and called "Casey wait."  
  
Casey turned back to see Zeke leaning on the hood, searching his pocket for a lighter. Casey dug in his bag and threw him the punk rock pink Bic he stole from Stokely two weeks ago. Zeke lit the smoke while Casey came closer and waited.  
  
"You want some company at the bitch's party or not?"  
  
Casey smiled. It was good to know that no matter how much time he spent with Zeke - the guy could still surprise him. "Well there is going to be like a million people there who I, don't know, quietly despise or openly hate. Yeah, there is only so much I can stand. I could use a friend."  
  
Zeke took a long drag, finished the cigarette and let it fall to the ground.  
  
Casey snuffed the flame with his heal.  
  
Zeke rolled his eyes, heaving a put upon sigh and pushing off the hood. "I'll pick you up at 9."


End file.
